Propulsion unit for a vessel



United States Patent 72] lnventor Owen G. Slade Cowes, Isle of Wight, England [21] Appl. No. 778,141 [22] Filed Nov. 22, 1968 [45] Patented Dec. 1, 1970 [73] Assignee J. Samuel White & Company Limited [32] Priority Nov. 24, 1967, Feb. 27, 1968 [3 3 Great Britain [31 Nos. 53,627/67 and 9423/68 [54] PROPULSION UNIT FOR A VESSEL 8 Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

[52] US. Cl 115/12; 60/221; 115/1 51 rm. c1 B63h 11/08, 86% 3/00 [50] Field ofSearch 115/12, 1. 12(A); 60/221, 228, 230

[5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,302,605 2/1967 Kuether 115/12 FOREIGN PATENTS 688,611 6/1964 Canada Primary Examiner-Trygve M. Blix Attorney-Watson, Cole, Grindle and Watson b. having a rotatable vaned plate at the end of the discharge passage.

Patented Dec. 1, 1970 3,543,713

2 Sheet 3 012 INVENTOR Owen GEOR6 Sum:

PROPULSION UNIT FOR A VESSEL This invention relates to apropulsion unit for a vessel 1.1- cluding means defining a discharge orifice through which water or other fluid can be discharged to propel the vessel.

According to the present invention the unit includes a passage leading to means defining the discharge orifice which means can be adjusted to change continuously the direction of discharge, and in one, position of adjustment fluid can flow in a straight path along the passage and then through the orifice.

That position of adjustment will clearly be a position for forward propulsion which can thus be very efficient as the fluid does not have to be deflected. The direction of discharge when the unit is mounted in a vessel can be arranged to be horizontal in this position of adjustment or it might perhaps be at a small angle to the horizontal so that most of the thrust is available for propulsion.

A simple manual or automatic control of the adjustment of the orifice means may be provided for example by a shaft ex tending across the passage to the hull.

In one embodiment the passage is a generally smooth converging shape and the orifice means comprises rotatable ducting which can be turned so that in a position for propulsion astern the fluid is deflected to flow in a direction having a forward component. The orifice means may join an upstream relatively fixed part of the passage in a circle, for ease of adjustment, and in one suitable design the inlet to the passage is circular and the orifice is in the form of an ellipse with the major axis horizontal.

In another form of the invention that is particularly convenient where no component is to be proud of the general surface of the hull the orifice means comprises a plate or like member carrying vanes determining the direction of flow through the orifice.

lneither case, the orifice means could be in an aft extension of the hull to save major structural modifications to the hull.

The unit is conveniently in an assembly with a pump for the fluid and the pump may have an inlet in the bottom ofthe hull near the stern to be suitable for use with water planing vessels.

The invention is also suitable for use with amphibious vessels which could have an engine capable of use for driving wheels for use on land or a fluid pump for use at sea, possibly by selective engagement of a pair of clutches.

The invention may be carried into practice'in various ways and two embodiments will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic sectional elevation of a propulsion unit in a marine vessel embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear view of the propulsion unit of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a similar view of a modified propulsion unit also embodying the invention.

As shown in FIG. 1 the vessel has a hull containing near the stern a pump casing 11 leading to a propulsion nozzle 13 which is hereafter more fully described.

Inside the casing 11 is a two-stage axial flow pump 14 driven by a shaft 15 which can be connected to an engine (not shown). The inlet to the casing 11 is in the form of an opening I verging nozzle 18 and 19 in a circle. Around the edge of the circle is a suitable ring seal.

The downstream part 20 is mounted on a shaft 23 which can rotate in suitable bearings 24 under automatic or manual con trol from the vessel so that the downstream part of the nozzle can be directed either smoothly in line with the upstream part 18 so that the flow of water is horizontal, directly astern and in a straight line along the axis of the pump 14, or (as shown in chain lines in FIG. 1) so that the discharge is as shown at 25 generally forwardly and downwardly to be suitable for propulsion of the vessel astern. The part 20 can also take up interv mediate positions for propulsion in intermediate directions.

' Although the efficiency will be reduced to some extent by the turning of the water through an angle of nearly 90, and although the stream will not be discharged in a horizontal direction, this is usually not of great importance because usually maximum speed is only required for forward propulsiomand certainly an improved thrust for propulsion astern would not be required at the expense of loss of thrust for forward propulsion.

' It will be appreciated that the downstream part of the nozzle is defined by a duct so that the water will be substantially confined even after the duct has been rotated, so that the water can be directed without splashing.

A particularly convenient arrangement of the duct is achieved if the nozzle section changes smoothly from a circular section at the inlet to the upstream part to a flatter elliptical section with the major axis horizontal at the discharge end 21.

The nozzle can have a comparatively smooth external shape since the only control for effecting movement astern is the rotation of a shaft and this can be in a housing which can be faired into the hull and into the external shape of the nozzle.

A sleeve extending across the duct for the shaft 23 can be formed in a fin 26 forming a part of the downstream portion of the nozzle bisecting the outlet.

As has been earlier mentioned, the invention is suitable for use with amphibious vessels having wheels for use on land, one of such wheels W being shown in FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings, it being apparent that this is but one of the rear driv' ing wheels of the vessel, the wheels being disposed on opposite sides of the vessel.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 the discharge direction is definedby vanes 31 extending across a circular plate 32 closing the end of the fixed upstream part 18 of the nozzle, and constituting the movable part. The plate 32 can be rotated about the axis of the shaft 23 in a similar manner to that described for the part 20 in FIG. 1. The rear part ofthe hull I0 is inclined rearwardly and upwardly at an angle of about 10 to the horizontal, and the plate 32 is arranged at approximately the same angle. and in the position of adjustment for forward propulsion, water can flow through the vanes substantially without deflection. In theexample shown the flow is slightly displaced from the pump axis. For this purpose the vanes 31 are inclined at about 24 to the plane of the plate 32. Thus, as the plate is inclined at 10 to the horizontal, the water discharged will have a direction of flow in the aft direction at about 14 to the horizontal so that a good forward thrust is achieved. The angles of the plate 32 and casing 11 could be altered so that the water issues horizontally to obtain maximum efficiency for forward propulsion but this impairs the efficiency of propulsion in other directions to some extent. In the example shown in the drawing when the plate 32 is rotated through 180 the jet will be issuing at an angle of about 34 to the horizontal which gives rather better efficiency for propulsion astern than with the arrangement of FIG. 1.

The arrangement of FIG. 3 has the advantage that the discharge orifice lies in the general surface of the hull.

If the vanes 31 were directed horizontally for forward propulsion it would be preferred that the plate 32 was in a rear podlike extension of the hull so that the discharge could be in a straight path along the axis of the pump, without modifying the shape of the hull, and then the arrangement would be rather more like the arrangement of FIG. 1.

lclaim:

1. A propulsion unit for a vessel comprising a housing, an

. impeller mounted in the housing, an inlet passage for supply- 2. A unit as claimed in claim 1 wherein said rotatable mounting includes a shaft across the outlet passage and means for adjusting the duct mounted for rotation on the shaft.

3, A unit as claimed in claim 1 in which comprising vanes extending across the orifice for determining the direction of flow through the orifice.

4. A unitas claimed in claim 3 which the vessel has a hull and the vanes lie in a surface or the hull of the vessel.

5. A unit as claimed in claim 1 in which the vessel has a hull and in which the duct is in an aft extension of the hull.

6." A unit as claimed in claim 1 in which the hull has a bottom and a stern, and including a water intake for the unit in the bottom of the hull near the stern.

7. A unit as claimed in claim A wherein said vessel is amphibious and has at least two wheels, the impeller being mounted between said at least two wheels.

8 A unit as claimed in claim 7 further comprising single engine for driving the wheels solely foruse on land. 

